Thanapara Swallows is located in a rural village in the Northwestern part of Bangladesh on the riverbank Padma (Ganges). During the liberation period in 1971, this quiet and peaceful village was transformed when on the 13th of April, the Pakistani Army suddenly invaded the village and killed over 100 unarmed men. This massacre was the largest wartime atrocity in the Rajshahi District.

With the destruction of the male heads of households, families in the village faced certain destitution and hopelessness.

In 1973, the Swedish organization, The Swallows, hearing of the massacre and the resultant plight of the survivors, began a relief program providing food and clothing to the people of Thanapara and named the association as The Swallows Association for Social Voluntary Service, Thanapara Project. The following year, a primary school was started for the poor children and a handicrafts program for the women. In 1985, the Village Development Program was started to broaden program support for the mostly women residents of the village.

The organization has operated continuously since 1973 with control all operations transferred to local administrators from The Swallows Sweden in 1997. Then on July 01, 1999 the organization was named 'Thanapara Swallows Development Society' and stated working as a local NGO, registered under NGO Affairs Bureau, FD Registration No. 1671.

Currently, a full time professional staff along with representatives from all of the village programs manages the Society. The Handicrafts Program is now a fully self-sustaining operation employing over 200 women and three men. The Primary School maintains a waiting list each year and enrolls about 100 students each year. The Village Development Program continues to offer socially relevant programs for villagers and many other programs have been added to the organizations list of services and activitie